In an appearance on Golden Globe-winning podcast Good Hang With Amy Poehler, director-writer Ryan Coogler reflected on playing football against Marshawn Lynch as a student athlete.
At around the 24-minute point of the episode, which can be seen in full above, Lynch spoke about his college football career and encountering players in the Bay Area who he immediately felt were better than him.
“I would meet players like Maurice Jones-Drew, or Marshawn Lynch, players I would play against and I’ll be like, ‘Man they a lot better than me,'” the Oakland native said. “You come across players that’s like, ‘Oh, that’s something different happening there.’ And that was kind of how I could see early, maybe football wasn’t going to be what I did forever.”
Coogler attended both Saint Mary's College of California and Sacramento State on football scholarships before pursuing a graduate degree in film at the the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Lynch, meanwhile, played for the NFL before becoming an actor, delivering comedic performances in movies like Bottoms, The Pickup, and Freaky Tales.
Poehler asked Coogler if the former Seattle Seahawks running back was “always funny."
“I mean, he not funny when you trying to tackle him,” Coogler joked. “Actually, in high school, he was trying to guard me. So, I was dealing with him on offense and defense. I had some success on the offensive side against him, but trying to tackle that man was impossible. So yeah, he was not funny on the field. But as a person, man, he hilarious."
Coogler, 39, made his directorial with Fruitville Station in 2013, which he followed up with the critically-acclaimed Rocky sequel Creed in 2015.
His biggest success came when he directed Black Panther and its sequel, which grossed $1.35 billion and $859 billion worldwide, respectively.
Sinners was also a major box office hit and has proven to be a big awards season contender. The film secured four wins at the Critics’ Choice Awards, two wins at the Golden Globe Awards, and has five nominations for the SAG Actor Awards. It’s expected to pick up Oscar nominations, too.
